


Homecoming

by yunmin



Series: Smile at Each Other's Welcome [5]
Category: Bones (TV), Criminal Minds
Genre: Crossover, Episode Tag, Gen, Is this AU yet?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-14
Updated: 2013-10-14
Packaged: 2017-12-29 11:00:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,266
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1004631
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yunmin/pseuds/yunmin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>With the Jeffersonian team devastated by the loss of one of their own, Cam reaches out to Drs. Reid and Addy to help solve the case. Zack is terrified by his first real visit back to the Jeffersonian since he has found freedom, and Reid finally has a proper talk with Dr. Brennan about just where she went wrong.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Homecoming

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you guys appreciate that I had to rewatch The Hole in the Heart for this and that episode makes me cry so much. SPOILERS follow for that episode (Bones 6x23) obviously. We return to the Jeffersonian gang, and I finally manage to give Brennan a scene where she's not hated (I've not been kind to her previously). It's nice exploring the characters in Bones. Definitely starting to get shippy now, just you guys wait until the next fic

Cam took a shaky breath. She still looked well put together, immaculate, not out of place standing in the corridors of the FBI headquarters. Despite that, she was falling apart inside.

She'd taken a moment, away from the rest of the team, to step outside, left them sitting in the conference room. Everything was a little bit too much right now. It had only been an hour or two since, well since, Vincent had lay bleeding on the lab floor. And now he was dead. Broadsky had gotten away. And there seemed no way in which they were going to find him.

The team was good, yes, but they couldn't get everyone. Especially not when the team was so emotionally compromised.

But as Cam thought upon the impossibleness of their case, she remembered someone else, who had a reputation for solving the impossible.

Dr. Spencer Reid and his team at the BAU.

And the last Cam heard, Zack Addy was still staying with him. And there was no one more brilliant than Zack. No one more rational, more capable of keeping their head in a difficult situation.

Her phone was out of her pocket and she was dialling Reid's number before she really had time to think it through.

"Hello, you've reached Dr. Spencer Reid with the Behavioural Analysis Unit. I'm afraid I cannot take your call right now, please leave a message and I will get back to you."

Damn. Voicemail. He was probably busy with a case. "Dr. Reid, it's Camille Saroyan." Her voice broke slightly, she paused as she wondered what to tell him. "Something's come up at the Lab and I could do with your help, can you call me back?"

That would do. He was a busy man, Cam understood that. She was putting her phone back in her pocket when it rang.

She picked it up, without looking at the ID. "Hello?"

"Cam, it's Dr. Reid." He sounded slightly out of breath. "What happened? How can I help?"

"Can you come down to the Jeffersonian?" she asked. "With Zack. One of our interns was just shot, and I think we could do with all the help we can get."

"Is he alright?" Cam could hear rustling, probably paperwork and files being sorted out the way.

"He's dead. Died on the floor of the lab." Cam took a deep breath. "Booth's old mentor has gone rogue; you've probably seen some of the shootings, he got Heather Taffet, and he was trying to shoot Booth only he got Vincent instead."

"I'll be right over," Reid said. "Is everyone else okay?"

"We're shaken, but no one else was hurt."

Reid breathed a sigh of relief.

"I'll see you in the Lab in 40 minutes."

-x-

Forty minutes was, to be honest, being optimistic if Reid had to get from the Quantico base to the Jeffersonian Lab and pick Zack up. Hotch was understanding as he ran off; they'd all been cleared to leave within the next hour due to a case they'd just finished, and authorised him to have a Bureau SUV which would make life slightly easier.

It didn't make pulling into the Jeffersonian Lab any easier. Especially not with all the crime scene tape still present, one forensics van still loitering around. Zack looked nervous. Really nervous.

"Are you alright?" Reid asked. They were still in the car.

"I will be fine," Zack replied. "It simply reminds me of what the Lab was like when I left it after." He doesn't finish the sentence, Reid knew well enough what he was referring to.

"Cam asked for you specially," Reid reminded him. "They want you back."

"Why?" Zack asked. "What good can I do?" He looked down at his hands, still scarred from the explosion. They'd been making a lot of progress recently, getting them back to capacity, and Reid privately thought that now it was mostly Zack's lack of confidence holding him back about it, but it was true that he couldn't exactly do the fine detailed work which forensic anthropology sometimes required.

"Zack, you can do a world of good," Reid said. He looked across at Zack, meeting the other man's eyes. "I believe in you."

Zack nodded, and then ducked his head. A slight blush crept across his cheeks, but Reid didn't notice.

Reid gave Zack a couple more moments to gather himself together, before declaring that they should really actually be moving. Zack followed, as he always did, as Reid strode across the car park and up the Jeffersonian steps.

Cam is there to meet them at the front. Neither of them has passes to get in, after all.

She looked weary, tired, fed up with everything, a level of despondency that Zack had never seen on her face.

"Hey Zackaroni, Dr. Reid," she said softly as they came in.

"Are you alright?" Zack immediately asked, while Reid turned to the security desk in order to show his credentials, and confirming Zack's as well.

"I'll be better once we've caught the guy," Cam replied.

Reid handed a badge to Zack, and clipped his own onto his vest. The three of them headed down the Jeffersonian corridors to the main lab.

"I think we might even have your old lab coat, Zack," Cam said.

"Why am I here?" Zack asked again.

"Booth's taken Dr. Brennan home. Won't let her out of his sight. I'm down a forensic anthropologist and right now I can't expect any of the interns to come in," Cam replied. "You have fresh eyes. Anything that you can see that might lead us to Broadsky will be helpful."

Zack nodded.

"Do you have any information on Broadsky?" Reid asked, taking the attention of Zack. "I heard about the Gravedigger shooting but apart from that I don't know much. Our record on snipers isn't great and we've never had a request for Broadsky come across our desks."

"That'll be Booth, determined to fight it alone. And we have Sweets, who does have some skill in profiling," Cam replied.

They round the corner and pass through the glass doors that marked the entrance to the lab.

"Zack!"

Zack prepared himself for the assault that usually followed Angela crying out in that tone, and was surprised when it didn't happen. When he caught sight of Angela, he knew why though.

(They had told him about the pregnancy, he'd just chosen to ignore it. It reminded him too much of how everyone else had moved on.)

She doesn't run towards him, but it is definitely a quick walk, as quick as she can manage and when she reached Zack she pulled him into a tight hug.

That was another thing Zack was getting better at. Accepting and giving affection. He returned the hug, but gently, mostly because the baby was concerning him slightly.

"Leishenger's bones are in the back room, Zack," Cam said. "Dr. Reid, there are files in my office."

Reid nodded, and followed Cam, leaving Zack behind. He had Angela, after all.

-x-

Angela was exhausted, tired, and very fed up. She wanted to go home. But Jack was still here, desperately trying to figure out something to help, and so she was to. Sitting in his lab wasn't the most interesting activity though, and when Reid and Zack had turned up, well who could blame her for going and moving somewhere else.

Which was how she ended up in the bone room with Zack. At midnight. And getting later (or was it earlier now?) by the minute.

"The damage to this mastoid process is unusual," Zack commented. It broke the silence which had gathered over the room.

"Bren and Vincent were looking at it just before." Angela paused. She still can't believe it actually happened.

Zack paused, placing the skull back down on the table. "What was he like?" he asked. "Vincent?"

"Oh, well." Angela didn't really know where to start. "He was... unique. Always quoting statistics. If you ever needed to know anything Vincent knew it. Always. It made him feel better. Nervous, questioning. He always wanted to please, never wanted to let anyone down. He was Brennan's favourite." Angela noticed Zack sinking a little bit at that. "But, you know Zack, I think that's because he was the one most like you."

Zack nodded. "He sounds good."

"He was," Angela replied. Zack looked down, back at the bones, preparing to refocus himself. "How have you been?"

Zack didn't quite know what Angela wanted from that. "I'm fine." He knew Angela wouldn't be satisfied by that though.

"Really, Zack," Angela prompted. "Where are you living now?"

"I'm still at Spencer's," Zack answered. Angela didn't miss the use of his first name. "The arrangement suits us both." He went back to examining the skull.

"You can't still be in his spare room?" Angela asked.

"I stay on the couch," Zack answered without a second thought. "The damage to the Mastoid Process is severe. Whatever caused it struck with intense power."

Angela simply looked at him. It was quite clear that he wasn't going to talk about it. Still, he couldn't really have been staying on Reid's couch all this time could he?

-x-

Reid joined Cam in her office, placing himself in the chair which sat opposite her desk. He instinctively picked up the files that were on her desk and started flicking through them.

Cam simply sat at her desk in despair.

"Are you alright? Really?" Reid asked, taking a moment to look away from the file.

Cam sighed. "It's just... everything at once. I'm going to have to call his mother once the time difference isn't insane. We have no leads to try and find Broadsky. Booth and Dr. Brennan are far too wrapped up in each other to notice anything going on otherwise. I had to call Wendell earlier, let him know. I would've had to call all the interns, but he said he'd do it. I think they're holding some sort of wake."

"Grief can be difficult to process." Reid didn't really know what to say. He hadn't known Vincent, never met him. He knew how losing Emily had felt, though, even though it turned out she wasn't actually dead. "I know I had trouble."

"Who did you lose?" Cam asked.

"We thought we lost one of my team, 8 months or so ago," Reid replied. "I couldn't take it, completely lost focus on everything. I found out she was still alive a couple of months ago, they covered it up to protect her."

Cam nodded. "I remember how the lab was like following Seeley's supposed death. It was horrible."

"Zack told me."

Cam looked up, smiling briefly. "How is he, really?"

"Better. He's getting better all the time. It's slow going, but I think he'll get there. His hands have come on exceptionally since he's been out. He did a guest lecture at Georgetown the other week. Helped us out on a case a few months back. We're attempting to get him some level of clearance back so he can actually do some work." Reid noticed Cam's concerned look. "He might not be a credible expert witness anymore, but there are lots of things he could be doing that don't involve testifying. There's all of Limbo to identify after all."

Cam conceded that Reid had a point. "You're right. It's just... strange, I suppose. We never thought he'd work again." She smiled. "And now look, you've got him working, lecturing, living life again."

"And he's still sleeping on the couch," Reid commented.

"Really?"

"Yes," Reid replied. "I don't have a spare room, I'm barely at my apartment as it is. Originally the plan was to find him his own place, but he never seemed interested. And now, now I'm used to him being there. It feels natural. Nice."

Cam noted Reid's look of contentment. She'd seen it on Zack too, beneath all his nervousness from being back in the Jeffersonian. They both seemed happier now that they'd found each other. And well, anything more... that was Angela's area to gossip on, not hers.

"You should get some sleep, Cam," Reid said. He'd mistaken her quiet moment of thinking for her spacing out.

"I'm fine. Besides, I still have to call Vincent's mother."

Reid didn't really believe that that is her only reason for staying up (he knew the fear, the worry, the terror which sometimes came every time one closed their eyes) but he didn't feel like he could actually say anything.

He instead busied himself with the files Cam had provided, trying to see if Broadsky's next move could be predicted.

-x-

The Jeffersonian quietened down after three in the morning. Hodgins and Angela finally went home, to catch a couple of hours of sleep (Hodgins had left something running under Zack's vague supervision, with the instructions "if it does anything weird, call me," which wasn't exactly helpful as Zack's idea of weird kept expanding day by day).

Cam fell asleep on the couch in her office after she had phoned Vincent's mum and delivered the bad news. Reid had chosen to step outside for that part, gone to speak with Zack, but he saw the tail end of the conversation and the look on Cam's face through her glass doors, and felt horrible. It was not an easy conversation to have.

Zack wanted to stay up. Examine Leishenger's body more. Examine the results of Vincent's autopsy. Anything that might reveal a clue. But Reid told him no. Knew that catching just a few hours of shut-eye, barely more than a nap, would be crucial if they wanted to keep working.

Zack won't leave the lab though, so they both ended up on the floor in Brennan's office (neither one willing to take the couch and deprive the other of it) and fell asleep there.

At least, until Zack awoke violently at quarter to six in the morning. He woke Reid up with him, who spent the next twenty minutes calming him back down (not an easy thing when neither of them had had much in the way of sleep, but Reid had gotten used to it. Glad to do it.)

Reid had got his go-bag, still left from the case, and Zack had packed a spare set of clothes, so they changed, feeling slightly more refreshed and went out to grab breakfast.

They brought it back to the lab, choosing to sit in the meeting area across the upper floor, taking in the silence and quiet before the lab really started to bustle.

Brennan appeared, late for her at 8:00. She vaguely acknowledged Zack, sitting on the platform, but when she saw Reid she turned away and headed into her office.

"Why don't you like Dr. Brennan?" Zack asked.

Reid raised his eyebrows. "It's not that I don't like her, really."

"You are always highly critical of her," Zack interrupted. "Usually that implies that you do not like someone."

"I'm sure she is very brilliant. And good at her job. But Zack," Reid continued, "I can't forgive her for what she did to you. How she abandoned you and cast you aside."

"It was my own fault," Zack replied, simply. He then cocked his head and looked closer at Reid. "Spencer, this isn't just about Dr. Brennan is it?"

"No," Reid admitted. "But I think that's probably a tale for another time. You should go and tell Brennan what you found."

"Of course," Zack nodded. He sat still for a few moments longer, looking at Reid, before getting up.

It was an odd reversal of roles, Reid watching Zack walk off, and Reid wasn't quite sure he liked it.

-x-

"What is up with that skull?" Angela asked as she walked into the bone room and saw both Brennan and Zack staring at it.

"There is damage to the mastoid process which is unusual," Brennan commented.

"Sweetie, you told me that an hour ago," Angela said back. "And Zack told me it last night."

"It would not normally be a target in close combat," Brennan said.

"In addition, there are a series of bruises present," Zack begun, but he dropped it when he noticed that Angela was completely focused on Brennan, and neither woman was paying any attention to what he was saying.

"Some thing's up," Angela commented.

Brennan ducked her head, avoided, and then lifted it back up, her eyes flicked momentarily across to Zack.

"Zack, go," Angela said, getting Brennan's implication that this was private.

Zack decided not to question it. He moved quickly out of the room. He noticed Hodgins, excited, no doubt with some results attempt to go in a couple of moments after, and then quickly get shooed out as well.

"What is up with them?" Hodgins asked as he noticed Zack.

"I do not know," Zack replied. "Do you have something?"

"Mass spec results on the bullet which killed Vincent. I'm going to tell Cam, you coming with?"

Zack nodded. Cam's office was probably where Spencer was hanging out anyway.

Hodgins barged into her office, instantly stopping in front of her desk while Zack hung back behind him.

"GC mass spec results on the bullet that killed Vincent," Hodgins said.

"Great. Have you told Brennan?" Cam asked.

"I tried," Hodgins said. He proceeded to explain exactly what the mass spectrometer had picked up.

What it meant became obvious. The bullet was made by the ocean.

And there was only one port which fit all the criteria.

Reid jumped up out of his chair. "I'm going, tell Booth I'll see him there."

"Are you sure? Broadsky's a heck of a shot," Hodgins commented, concerned.

Reid paused momentarily, looking back at the concerned faces. "I've got the experience and the practice. Someone has to go." And then he left.

Cam was already making the call to Booth as she followed Reid out to go and see Brennan.

-x-

Reid was glad he'd borrowed a bureau SUV, as with the siren wailing he got there much quicker than his old Volkswagen would have gotten him anywhere. He pulled into the port in what he was sure was record time, stopped the SUV, jumped out and started running.

There was a young FBI agent standing at the port entrance organising things. "Agent Booth?" Reid asked quickly.

"He's on board Persephone," and she pointed out the direction.

Reid muttered a quick thanks as he tore off in that direction.

The ship is full of storage containers. He can see Broadsky, standing on top, aiming his rifle where, Reid assumed, Agent Booth was hiding.

Reid's phone rang in his pocket. He reached in, careful not to take his eyes off Broadsky or lower his gun, and answered it.

"Spencer?" Zack was almost frantic at the other end of the line.

"I can see Broadsky," Reid whispered back.

"His hand is broken," Zack said. "That's what the bruises on the Mastoid Process were."

Reid made the deduction clearly enough. "Thank you Zack." He closed his phone and slipped it back into his pocket.

Broadsky kept changing his angle. Reid presumed it was because Booth kept moving, darting between the storage containers, trying to get a better line of sight on Broadsky.

Reid edged closer. The storage containers made for good cover, but didn't exactly provide much in a way of advantageous shooting positions. No matter how much time he'd spent down on the gun range practising in the wake of Emily's death. But he had the advantage, in that Broadsky wasn't aware of him or his shooting ability.

He could extrapolate fairly accurately from the direction Broadsky was looking where Agent Booth was. Reid headed in a different direction, attempting to cover Broadsky from behind. It was Agent Booth's move to make, though.

He was just about close enough now to overhear the conversation. He still couldn't see Booth, but Broadsky was making some comment about Booth approaching from the low ground. Reid inched forward. He can just about see a figure, who must be Booth, alongside a storage container. Weapon trained on Broadsky.

A distraction was desperately needed. Broadsky wouldn't be able to fire a shot off quick enough with his broken hand.

Reid banged his gun against the metal storage unit. The crash it made was loud, and startling against the silence.

Braosky turned, just momentarily.

Reid brought his gun straight back up to train it on Broadsky, but Booth got the shot in first. Broadsky fell, clutching at his leg.

Both Reid and Booth run towards his position. Reid grabbed the sniper rifle from his grasp, as police helicopters began to gather overhead. Booth handcuffed Broadsky, as support forces poured in.

It was over.

Reid hung back. This wasn't his case, not his arrest to make. Once he was satisfied that everything was under control, he called Zack.

"Spencer?" Zack's voice this time was careful, worried.

"It's me. It's over. Broadsky's caught, he's in custody. Agent Booth and I are fine."

There was an audible sigh of relief from Zack, and Reid could hear him share the news with the others.

"I'll be heading back to the Jeffersonian shortly. I don't know how long Booth will be." Reid checked his watch. "I should really head over to Quantico, too." He added.

"Stay." It was out of Zack's mouth before he even realised he'd said it. "Can we just stay at the Jeffersonian a little longer? I'll call Hotch, Garcia, make your case. I'll get Cam to call them. Please?"

Zack was so earnest that Reid couldn't help it. "I'll see what I can do Zack."

"Thank you."

-x-

Zack was antsy, as he waited for Reid to return. He'd moved around the lab half a dozen times before finally settling on the steps up to the platform where he could get a good look at the glass doors which marked the entrance. Everyone else was still gathered in the waiting area which bridged the top of the lab.

Zack jumped up as soon as he saw Reid enter through the doors. They walked briskly towards each other, hugging when they met. Zack buried his head in Reid's shoulder.

"I'm so glad you're okay," he muttered. Reid just gripped him tightly.

The Jeffersonian crew watched on from above.

"I never thought I'd see Zack show so much affection to anyone," Angela commented.

"They are very close," Cam agreed. "He seems to follow Reid around almost like a lost puppy."

"You can't question Reid's devotion to him," Sweets added. "After he spent so long battling to get Zack freed."

Angela noticed Brennan looking down at the pair, slightly confused. "What is it Sweetie?"

Brennan turned to her friend. "Zack belongs here, with us."

"Zack chose to go with Reid," Angela replied. "We invited him to come back with us but he declined. This place holds bad memories for him as well as good ones." She paused.

"I think he was always a little scared to come back," Cam took over. "Scared he'd let you down."

"I never thought that," Brennan replied. "I always thought he was brilliant. Dr. Reid seems to blame me for the events that took place."

"He was just angry and frustrated," Sweets said in an attempt to pacify her. He knew that as far as Reid was concerned, his anger at Dr. Brennan was well justified, but in the lab they saw things slightly differently. "We'll probably see more of him, things will even out."

Brennan stayed silent as she continued staring at the pair.

Down below, in the main lab of the Jeffersonian, Reid and Zack had finally separated and sat down on the steps, still staying close to each other.

"You scared me, running off after Broadsky," Zack confessed.

Reid was surprised at that. It was no more danger than what he did everyday, and Zack was well aware of what his job entailed. "While I was just starting out at the BAU, we had a case where we had to profile a sniper. A long-distance serial killer. I'd just turned twenty-four and I'd just failed my firearms qualification."

Zack looked intrigued, but also distressed. "What happened?"

"Profilers aren't required to carry so I was sent out anyway. Hotch and I were held hostage along with several civilians by the unsub. Hotch persuaded the unsub that he was actually on their side. He feigned kicking me in the stomach to give me access to his back up gun. I shot the unsub in the head. It was my first kill."

Zack nodded, and simply placed a hand on Reid's shoulder, smiling gently at him. "I never doubt you, Spencer."

It was Reid's turn to nod as he smiled back at Zack.

-x-

They stayed, in the end. Reid called up Hotch, who told him that an official thanks had been faxed over by Agent Booth thanking the BAU for their assistance in capturing fugitive Broadsky, so Reid was off the hook (though there would be paperwork to fill out later.) And Zack seemed so keen on staying that Reid could hardly deny him.

The team are still sorting everything out, post case. Cam escaped to her office; she had the most paperwork to file and Reid knew she'd taken it on herself to oversee the transportation of Vincent's body back to England.

Zack chattered away with Hodgins and Brennan, much calmer and more comfortable now that the case wasn't hanging over him, now that he had proven that he could still so his job.

Reid sat and watched him, mostly. He occasionally formed conversation with Sweets, discussing cases and consults, latest theories and psychological dilemmas. Sweets was much easier to get along with when he wasn't responsible for keeping Zack in the loony-bin. But his eyes kept coming back to focus of Zack. He spent a lot of time watching Zack, these days.

Angela came over and spoke to him at one point. "He's so happy with you," she commented.

Reid nodded. "I'm happy to have him."

Angela laughed slightly, wondering if Reid was quite aware of how he sounded. "You know, Brennan's under the impression that you hate her."

"I don't," Reid clarified. "I just find her frustrating. I'm sure if we had met under different circumstances we could have been friends."

"You wouldn't mind telling her that?" Angela replied. And with that, she walked off.

Reid looked around once again. No one seemed to be out and about on the open floor of the lab; they were probably all hidden away in their offices. Zack was probably with Hodgins discussing something. There would be no harm in speaking to Brennan.

Which was how he found himself outside her office door, knocking politely before letting himself in.

"Dr. Reid," Brennan started. "What are you doing here?"

"I've been informed that you believe I have adversarial feelings towards you. I would like to assure you I do not."

Brennan was, well, surprised is the only real way to put it. "But you do not like me. You think the way I acted towards Zack is unforgiveable."

"It's not that simple." Reid sat down in the chair which was placed opposite to Brennan's desk. "He needed you and you weren't there."

"Zack made his decision. I couldn't have changed it," Brennan replied.

"But you could have. If you'd have been there. If you'd have noticed the changes."

"Zack was different when he came back from Iraq. I couldn't be expected to notice every change."

Reid was moments away from clasping his head in his hands in despair. "Noticing the little changes is what keeps us safe." He paused for a moment, considering. "If my team hadn't been there for me, noticed all the things that didn't make sense, I'd be dead," he said.

Brennan looked up, eyes wide. "I was in Georgia, and was taken hostage. The unsub was streaming a live feed to my team. I managed to get a message out; I called the leader of my team a classic narcissist and misquoted a bible verse. He picked up on it and managed to find me in time. If he hadn't noticed, hadn't paid attention, I wouldn't be here right now."

"That's my problem with you. Because every time I see you I remember that if you'd have concentrated, realised the Gormogon case was too big for you, Zack could have been saved."

Brennan appeared to be even more shell-shocked than when Reid had first yelled at her. "I'm sorry," she managed to say. "I had no idea."

Reid thought that that had been the problem all along. Brennan had no idea of the trail of destruction she could leave behind in her wake when she wasn't careful. "I apologise too. I have difficulties keeping everything rational sometimes." Especially when Zack was involved.

"And I can be too rational," Brennan offered. "I should have noticed Zack sooner. I was caught up in everything else."

"I understand." And Reid did, he really, really did. But all of his emotional wounds coupled with the scars on Zack compounded to make it just too much to handle properly.

-x-

It was late in the evening when Reid finally started driving home. He'd return the SUV in the morning, it would be fine until then. It was too late, and both he and Zack were exhausted (Zack, emotionally, Reid from the lack of decent sleep).

"Thank you," Zack said, as they got out the car and began their walk up to Reid's apartment.

"What for?" Reid asked.

"Making me go," Zack answered back, simply.

"You don't have to thank me for that Zack," Reid replied.

"Cam asked if I'd be interested in doing tours of the Medico-Legal lab and the archives," Zack said.

"That's good," Reid replied. "And there was that engineering work which MIT wanted."

"Yes," Zack said. They reached the apartment door, Reid reaching for the keys. He unlocked the door and they both went in, Reid dumping his bag on the couch. Zack went to the kitchen.

"Zack, you don't have to cook, we can order something," Reid yelled across the apartment.

Zack had already reached for a pan. It wasn't like he was going to cook anything complicated. Mac and Cheese still made up the basis of pretty much every meal he had. "You live on takeout food. It's the least I can do."

Reid moved into the kitchen area, watching as Zack went through the repetitive motions. He did actually cook a fair bit, and while Zack would never be the worlds greatest cook, it was nice, and Reid rarely had time to do any of his own cooking (though would remind everyone that he can very much cook, having looked after himself from an early age, it was just a time issue.)

"Do you think it's strange that you're still here?" Reid asked.

Zack turned, a pan clattering as he set it back to rights. "Angela expressed a degree of surprise when I told her I was. But I am happy here," he said. "Would you prefer if I was not?

"Zack," Reid began. He wanted to lean forward, touch Zack in some way to reassure him, but there is a counter between them. "I am perfectly happy with you here. I want you to stay. I love having you around."

Zack smiled, before a pan suddenly made a hissing sound and he had to turn back to it.

Despite the horrible event that had started his return to the Jeffersonian, everything seemed to have worked out better for it.


End file.
